Communication for Development Approaches to Address Violence Against Children: A Systematic Review

"There is an urgent need to improve access, dissemination, systematization, and use of data and evidence on social and behavior change and community engagement to promote protective practices." - Rafael Obregón and Stephen Blight, both of UNICEF, from the Foreword

The global community increasingly recognises the need to transform social norms that condone or facilitate violence against children (VAC) or prevent child victims from accessing support, and to reinforce positive norms that protect children from violence. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is one of those organisations. UNICEF's Programme Division initiated a research study in partnership with Drexel University to analyse the effectiveness of communication for development (C4D) approaches to address VAC. This report presents the findings from a systematic literature review, which examines relevant publications from 2000-2013.

There are differences among practitioners and scholars on all the communication approaches and terms that constitute C4D. Therefore, the systematic review included several complementary terms such as behaviour change communication, social mobilisation, media campaigns, and advocacy. With respect to forms of VAC, a mix of broad and specific issues is included (the complete list of key terms used for this systematic review is presented in Table 1 on page 13).

The review process revealed that the number of peer-reviewed articles and grey literature related to the use of C4D approaches to address VAC has steadily increased each year since 2000. While the total number of hits based on the key search criteria was 80,532, only 302 manuscripts made the final cut. Of them, 44% discuss an intervention implemented in a developing country; a greater proportion of manuscripts discuss interventions in urban contexts as compared to rural contexts.

Some of the key findings of the review include:

1. Programme design elements - sample findings:
   • Roughly half of the interventions reviewed do not explicitly reference a conceptual model to underpin the interventions. Those that do typically cite individual or cognitive conceptual models, and over 80% focus on the individual level of change - this despite the fact that individuals are embedded within a larger social system, and effective interventions must keep in mind the interactions between levels in order to bring about sustainable change. Only about 11% of the interventions use community approaches, and slightly less than 10% report using a social ecological model that works to address social, emotional, and behavioural skills (for example, self-efficacy) of individuals and groups, as well as social norms.
   • C4D programmes addressing VAC often use a "harm reduction" framework. Often in these cases, programme objectives focus on the negative, whereas C4D messages for the same intervention focus on positive changes. The researchers stress that overall programme objectives should be linked to communication objectives, which in turn yield coherent C4D messages. Furthermore, the majority of objectives relied on changing knowledge or improving comprehension instead of activating higher levels of cognitive and affective change such as assimilating or evaluating information.
2. Programme implementation - sample findings:
   • The intended audience for the majority of interventions was individuals; on the whole, the manuscripts did not report segmenting audiences into primary, secondary, or tertiary groups.
   • Developing countries tended to use VAC campaigns with mass media channels such as television, radio, and print, whereas United States (US)-based interventions tended to use training/capacity-building activities.
   • Many of the interventions focus on intervening in the setting where violence occurs, such as the home or school, while ignoring the forms of violence that occur in less concrete or discrete places, such as public spaces where verbal or sexual harassment of adolescent girls often occurs. As the researchers argue, a social-norms-based approach has the potential to address violence more holistically and at a broader level.
3. Overall programme evaluation processes - sample findings:
   • There is a lack of evaluation data on the effectiveness of interventions, especially from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Lack of information on sampling frameworks, small sample sizes, and other methodological issues bring to light the lack of specificity and sophistication in the evaluation data being collected.
   • Measurement indicators are centred on low-order individual cognitive constructs, reflective of the focus on the individual seen in the selection of conceptual models. Also, local indicators (incidence and prevalence) on VAC are not always readily available or accessible. Standardised definitions and measurements of incidence and prevalence are needed.
4. Thematic analysis of the key results by type of research - sample findings:
   • There was strong evidence in support of early childhood programmes (e.g., positive parenting). By raising boys and girls who reject violence, new norms around masculinity and femininity can be created. The researchers contend that these types of programmes can lay the groundwork for generational change.
   • Girls are disproportionately at risk for most types of violence; female empowerment has proven to be a successful and integral component of prevention efforts. That said, the review points to the need to engage men and boys (who are themselves also victims) in gender-transformative programmes.

Overall, the evidence in this review suggests that C4D approaches can challenge the social and cultural norms that perpetuate and condone violence. The 15 key recommendations that emerge are categorised under three broad themes:

• Contextualisation and framing of the issue:
  • Specifically address children within other forms of violence.
  • Explore linkages between different forms of VAC.
  • Explore VAC along a spectrum.
  • Contextualise VAC both as a cause and an outcome.
  • Start early and continue into adulthood.
  • Move beyond a place-based approach to a wider norms-based approach to incorporate innovative communication channels and tackle the culture of violence.
• Programme design:
  • Embrace the social ecological model for behaviour and social change.
  • Broaden conceptualisations of C4D approaches to encompass efforts that involve any form of communication/communicative action and cut across all levels in the social ecological model.
  • Segment audiences by gender, and address gender-specific needs and differences.
  • Clarify direct and indirect linkages between stated programme outcomes and C4D or communication objectives and messages.
  • Reconfigure programme and C4D/communication objectives of VAC interventions.
  • Move beyond individually focused knowledge, attitudes, and practices by addressing social, emotional, and behavioural competencies.
• Programme implementation and evaluation:
  • Position VAC as a "glocal" issue through qualitative and quantitative measurement.
  • Enhance investment in research.
  • Scale up promising interventions.

The researchers conclude: "The wealth of information included in this systematic review has opened up the opportunity to conduct further and more specific analysis of information already collected." Figure 20 on page 68 outlines potential avenues for future research and additional studies.

This report is part of a package of evidence and tools that includes this systematic review, an evidence review of randomised controlled trials, technical guidance for C4D programmes addressing VAC, and training materials related to the guidance. (See Related Summaries, below.)